Friday 28 December 2012

Under The Tree

My Christmas wish list is so predictable, Santa and his representatives have no trouble finding the right gifts. Here is a sampling of what lay under the tree for me this year.


  

Carolyn begins, "it only takes five years to become self sufficient in fruits and vegetables year round".  Immensely reassuring for someone like me who is way past the first flush of youth.  Her garden is in Victoria, British Columbia, an environment conducive to growing, however, she started on 15 feet of clay fill which would be a challenge anywhere.  I happen to now live in similar growing conditions , minus the clay t.g., so I was keen to see what could be achieved. 
I've only read the January chapter so far but things bode well. This chapter is all about soil, everything you could want to know and then some. Flipping through February I can see we get into design, tools and building stuff. Perhaps to encourage the reader there is also a to die for recipe for Mildred's Norwegian Fruitcake. If I ever meet Mildred I am going to kiss her. Any fresh fruit can be thrown in, rhubarb chunks with orange peel is one glorious combination and cherries, apples, blackberries, pear slices, raspberries, strawberries are also on the list.
This book is Carolyn Herriot's response to the Making Sure Your Neighbour is Fed  definition of food security. "I decided to put everything I knew into this book, so that others can work toward achieving greater food self sufficiency without learning the hard way"  Smart lady.




On the back the blurb claims "from a quarter acre you can harvest: 1,400 eggs, 50 lbs of wheat, 60 lbs of fruit, 2000 lbs of vegetables, 280 lbs of pork and 75 lbs of nuts." Will this book convince me? Right now I'm thinking the claim is on the ambitious side. I wish this was a really, really, monstrously famous book because then I could write a fabulous and money making blog about following it's principles in the style of those blogs that live according to Oprah for a year or cook every recipe from Julia Child.

The book is a compilation of advice and information from previous books published by Storey Publishing. "Storey’s books teach skills and knowledge, encouraging readers to pursue their interests and to live more sustainable, self-sufficient lives". Just reading their publication list can put me in a cheerful mood.

So far, I'm pleased with the arrangement of information and artwork. I'm a visual learner so books that are pleasing to the eye have an advantage. I'm only a few pages in and again we start with planning. Whatever is ahead, I'm loving the diagrams for planting one tenth of an acre, one quarter of an acre and half an acre. It would seem Mr and Mrs Homesteader and all the little Homesteaders are living in a very tiny house if they have the space to plant all those crops. Hello, I've just looked at another page and now they say I can have a 100 lbs of honey too. I have to read on, this book will be coming to bed with me tonight.

Finally,




This was from M, who along with the child with Christmas in his heart, gave us a warm and wonderful Christmas. Darling girl is a fabulous cook from a family of fabulous cooks, I admit to feeling intimidated. Fortunately she has a kind heart and chose a book within my limited skill range. I picked this book up before breakfast today and was still reading it at lunch time. It is fantastic. It is rare I get excited about recipes but I'm excited about these. It tells me everything I need to know from pantry supplies, equipment, prep techniques, and how to safely puree without a kitchen splattering episode. Three basic stock recipes follow. The recipes are arranged by season and availability of ingredients. Don't these sound wonderful:  Squash, Pear and Parsnip with Ginger; Curried Sweet Potato, Carrot and Lentil; My Big Fat Italian Wedding? I'm particularly pleased to have received this book as our garden will be dominated by root vegetables next year and I can enjoy using the produce in these soups.

The Soup Sisters  is a non profit organisation founded by Sharon Hapton. Nurturing women join with chefs to provide soup to women's shelters and youth in need. It is an idea simple in execution and brilliant in concept. Please go to their website. I think you will be impressed.

Also thanks to M's Mom whose Christmas Day plan is the one I will be using from now on. Do the traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. Spend Christmas Day grazing left overs, watching movies, playing games and stay in your PJs all day. Loved it.

26 comments:

  1. Sounds like a wonderful Christmas day...I love books and have the second...I will check out the first and third...I love soups and am always looking for recipes...here's to a lovely New Year!!

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    1. Did you find The Back Yard Homestead interesting?

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  2. What wonderful books to receive for Christmas! The zero-mile-diet book looks very interesting as I do try every year to increase the amount we eat from our own garden. I would love to have a backyard homestead, but I don't see that ever really materializing for me. I do like that your idea about taking a year to blog about building a homestead. I bet it would make for some very informational as well as probably humorous posts!

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    1. My family indulges my love of books. Not quite so indulgent when I tune out for days while avidly reading them.

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  3. Nice selection of books there. I've got a few books from Storey publishing and they are good but I wish they'd go into more detail. Enjoy your reads

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    1. Hi Kev, I enjoyed your summary of your first year.
      You are right about detail as far as the Backyard Homestead is concerned. I'd classify it as an introduction to the idea of small scale homesteading

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  4. I love receiving books for Christmas - my favourite this year was one by Michael Guerra about Container Gardening, as I am hoping to increase my container harvests next year. Sounds like you have plenty of reading matter to keep you going - enjoy!

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    1. Even if I spent every hour of every day reading I doubt I could read all the books on my list. Bit of a sad thought...I had better get on with it.

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  5. Sounds like you will be busy reading and cooking this winter. I love soup-it is a meal in a bowl. Believe it or not, I have only made homemade soup twice- with moderate success, but I am determined to make more of an effort this winter. I am good with flowers, but my vegetables need work. I have lots of reading to do too! Happy holidays!

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    1. I'm more of a reader than a cook. I sometimes try to read while cooking which never works out well.

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  6. Those are some lovely new books...wow, I am going off to look for them myself.

    Could you imagine being self sufficient food wise? Amazing...and maybe a little overwhelming.

    Jen

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    1. I'll be sticking to some advice which says start with two or three things you like to eat and build up from there.
      My book list is ridicuously long as I keep seeing great books on my fave blogs.

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  7. Your reading inspires me! (I tend to old novels which don't help my gardening much.) The Zero-Mile volume looks like an especially good one, and what a perfect season this is for planning. Already the first seed catalogs are appearing in my mailbox, so I better focus...

    Happy New Year, Susan!

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    1. My book piles are pretty much divided equally between gardening and murder mysteries. I'm in search of a really great story which combines both. Would you write one?

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  8. What fabulous books! I make a lot of soup in the winter. Yesterday I made clam chowder. :o) My list of books that I want is much larger than my budget. Happy New Year!

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    1. Happy New Year to you too Tammy. One of my fantasies is to have a house with a library. What a dreamer but it keeps me happy.

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  9. If all I received were books under the tree, I would be a happy lady. Enjoy!

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    1. I've been saying for years, just give me books. Fortunately they didn't listen as our gift this year was a family outing to the spa. Tons of fun. Now I've said, please give us this every year...

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  10. The soup book looks wonderful - I love books, any books! Useful, classical, chick lit, manuals and of course gardening so I'm easy to buy for! When I build the next extension to the house I will make room for a library as I have books everywhere!

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    1. I was intrigued by the books in your photo. Are any of them the hot item in England?

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  11. I sure like the idea of cooking the dinner on Christmas Eve and nibbling on Christmas day. How genius! I'm not much of a vegetable gardener or cook but I am a reader. :) These books look wonderful. I hope they bring you much pleasure. Happy New Year.

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    1. I'm looking forward to reading your book, Grace.

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  12. What great book reviews and written in an interesting way. I'm totally sold on the first book. Will be checking out the local book stores.

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  13. Hi Susan, I had to laugh at your comment about being wise because although I'm part of this "Wise Woman" collection, I hardly think of myself as wise. But I think you're right in that age and the accumulation of life's ups and downs does seem to make us wiser, especially if we're the introspective type, which I am and I bet you are too. I've been told that I'm an over-thinker which I kind of take offense to. But I suppose I'm "wise" enough to not let it get me down. Better to be an over-thinker than to not think at all, right? :) Thank you for your comments, they're always appreciated.

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  14. Thank you for sharing your kind comment on my blog and the background of being born near the estuary. I am delighted you are back near the sea too. Thanks for highlighting these books, they are gorgeous and of course Happy New Year:~))

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  15. I love to read cookbooks! these books look very good. I love the garden one on the top. I have seen sites where they make enough food to live on and sale from very small garden plots on their urban yards. It is amazing!
    Sherry

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